” Brandon Raub, a decorated Marine who was forcefully admitted to a mental health institution for posting Facebook posts that were at-odds with the Obama Administration’s political agenda, is now suing the federal government for the apparent civil rights violation.

In 2012, Raub was arrested for posting “controversial song lyrics, conspiracy theories related to 9/11 and talk of upcoming revolution.” He was taken to a mental health institution and admitted for Oppositional Defiance Disorder, a term that the government uses to brand those who disagree with the way government is being run as being insane.

Raub was released days later when a judge recognized that there was no reason for his institutionalization. Still, this episode has startling implications about freedom in America.

This is not an isolated incident, however, as Raub was detained as part of a DHS directive called “Operation Vigilant Eagle,” a directive aimed at scrutinizing the behavior of veterans for anything nonconformist as a means of weeding out dissent. The program claims to be trying to help veterans who are “disgruntled, disillusioned or suffering from the psychological effects of war.”

However, critics have noted that the criteria is overly-broad and seems to target rightwing thought as a dangerous behavior worthy of institutionalization where veterans can become re-educated.”

Any right-thinking person these days had better have some “oppositional defiance” , which puts us in good company … Think Jefferson , Madison , Washington , Franklin , Henry , Lee … If they were with us today the State would surely be holding them under lock and key .

” Criticizing Chicago school officials for being overzealous, misguided and incapable of distinguishing between an impotent toy and a dangerous weapon, The Rutherford Institute has come to the defense of an 11-year-old boy who was suspended from school after he voluntarily turned in a non-firing plastic toy gun that had been forgotten in his jacket pocket.

Caden Cook, a sixth grader at Fredrick Funston Elementary School, was suspended for allegedly violating the school’s weapons policy against dangerous objects, in addition to being ordered to undergo counseling, and subjected to intimidation tactics, interrogation, and dire threats by school officials—all without his mother being present.

Rutherford Institute attorneys have asked that the suspension be rescinded and all references to the incident be removed from Caden’s permanent school record.”

” The Rutherford Institute has come to the defense of a 10-year-old boy who was suspended under a school zero tolerance policy for shooting an imaginary “arrow” at a fellow classmate, using nothing more than his hands and his imagination. Johnny Jones, a fifth grader at South Eastern Middle School, was suspended for a day and threatened with expulsion under the school’s weapons policy after playfully using his hands to draw the bowstrings on a pretend “bow” and “shoot” an arrow at a classmate who had held his folder like an imaginary gun and “shot” at Johnny. In coming to Jones’ defense, Rutherford Institute attorneys have asked Rona Kaufmann, Superintendent of the South Eastern School District in Fawn Grove, Pennsylvania, to rescind the suspension and remove all references to the incident from Jones’ permanent school record.

“ The Rutherford Institute has been called on to intervene in hundreds of cases like this involving young people who were suspended, expelled, and even arrested for violating school zero tolerance policies that criminalize childish behavior and punish all offenses severely, no matter how minor or non-threatening the so-called infraction may have been,” said John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute and author of A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State. “We all want to keep the schools safe, but I’d far prefer to see something credible done about actual threats, rather than this ongoing, senseless targeting of imaginary horseplay.” “

This insanity must be stopped . Our children are being taught to be unthinking automatons by the very system that is supposed to foster imagination and creativity . If you are as offended by the “zero tolerance” as we are perhaps you would like to help the Rutherford Institute in it’s invaluable efforts to restore our liberties .

” A federal judge made a ruling this week that has a decidedly Orwellian touch to it.

US District Judge Orlando Garcia ruled on Tuesday that the San Antonio Northside School District can require that its students wear devices with RFID locator chips embedded in them while on school premises. The decision has raised privacy concerns among conservative and liberal privacy-rights groups.

The saga began when 15-year-old magnet school student Andrea Hernandez refused to wear the device while attending Jay High School. School officials expelled the sophomore for not complying with the rule that is required of all students on campus. The case ended up before Garcia who also refused to block the student’s expulsion pending review by the courts.

The Rutherford Institute of Virginia represented the student in federal court. The institute said that the ruling was clearly in violation of the student’s privacy rights and it would appeal the decision.

“We don’t want to see this kind of intrusive surveillance infrastructure gain inroads into our culture,” ACLU senior policy analyst Jay Stanley said. “We should not be teaching our children to accept such an intrusive surveillance technology,” said Stanley, according to Reuters. ”